The North American Securities Administrators Association and the Securities and Exchange Commission are taking steps to provide relief to securities-industry professionals affected by Hurricane Harvey. NASAA is extending its examination enrollment windows for the Series 63, 65 and 66 for candidates in regions that have been declared disaster areas. For folks with an exam window due to expire between August 25 and September 22, their enrollment windows will be extended to November 6. Meanwhile, the SEC said it will consider granting relief from filing deadlines and other regulatory requirements for those affected by Harvey. "Agency officials have been and will remain in close communication with market participants and key market-infrastructure providers, as well as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and other regulators, concerning the storm and its aftermath. We are also actively working with firms in affected areas to ensure that investors continue to have access to their securities accounts,” said Chairman Jay Clayton, in a statement.
New Gold ETF Undercuts Competitors on Fees
The newest gold ETF on the market has a notably lower expense ratio than its larger, more established peers, MarketWatch reports. The GraniteShares Gold Trust, which launched on Thursday, charges an expense ratio of 0.2 percent. That's half the fee of the SPDR Gold Shares, the largest gold ETF on the market, with $33.7 billion in assets. The gold ETF that comes closest to the new GraniteShares one is the $9.1 billion iShares Gold Trust, which charges 0.25 percent. It's seen inflows of $846.9 million year to date, while the SPDR fund has had outflows of $45.5 million. Among other gold funds, the $1 billion ETFS Physical Swiss Gold ETF charges 0.39 percent, the PowerShares DB Gold Fund has an expense ratio of 0.78 percent and the VanEck Merk Gold Trust charges 0.4 percent.
Machine Learning for Predicting Stock Prices
Expat Inc. has introduced a new application called Market Sensei, which claims to predict stock performance through machine-learning algorithms. The Cambridge, Massachusetts–based startup just recently took the app out of beta and says the tool can predict low, high, opening and closing prices for thousands of stocks listed on the NYSE, NASDAQ and AMEX markets. The app, designed for both experienced traders and novice investors, will also alert users when a stock goes past a certain buy or sell price. For any specific stock, users can also see how well the app’s predictions performed within the past nine days, providing some accountability. The app can be downloaded for free and includes a free trial for complete access to the platform. After the free trial is over, it costs $19.95 a month.